Bible Commentaries

Proverbs 14:10 — thought it fitter to leave it to God’s wisdom to mingle the portion of sorrow than to be their own choosers. Dr Sibbes. And the stranger doth not intermeddle with his joy. — None but such as are of the "family of faith" Galatians 6:10 can conceive the surpassing sweetness of spiritual joy. The cock on the dunghill knows not the worth of this jewel. It is joy "unspeakable"; 1 Peter 1:8 such as none feel but those that stir up sighs "unutterable." Romans 8:26 It

Proverbs 18:14 — aggrievances, disasters or diseases, sores or sicknesses of the body - as the word here properly importeth. Let a man be sound within, and, upon good terms, at peace with his own conscience, and he will bravely bear unspeakable pressures. 2 Corinthians 1:9 ; 2 Corinthians 1:12 Paul was merry under his load, because his heart was cheery in the Lord; as an old beaten porter to the cross, maluit tolerare quam deplorare, his "stroke was heavier than his groaning," as Job. Job 23:2 Alexander Aphrodiseus

Proverbs 22:1 — [good] name [is] rather to be chosen than great riches, [and] loving favour rather than silver and gold. A good name is rather to be chosen. — Heb., A name, as "a wife," for a good wife. Proverbs 18:22 Better no wife than an ill wife, so better no name than an ill name. This good name proceeding from a good conscience, this honour from virtue, Isaiah 43:4 this perfume of faith and obedience, this splendour and sparkle of the "white stone,"

Isaiah 50:4 — his words there went forth a power, and he could persuade as he pleased; for what reason? "God had blessed him" ( ib. ). The tongue of the learned. — A learned and elaborate speech it had need to be that shall affect the heart. Matthew 13:52 Not every dolt can do it; but he who is "an interpreter, one among a thousand" Job 33:23 who can speak as the oracles of God, 1 Peter 4:11 sell oil to the wiser virgins, Matthew 25:9 "comfort the feebleminded, support the weak, be

Isaiah 63:16 — ignorant of us. — Ipsi nunc sua quiete fruuntur; they are at rest, and know nothing of our affairs. The monks tell us that the saints departed see things done here in the face of God as in a glass. But this is a mere fiction of theirs. See Psalms 27:10 2 Kings 22:20 . Augustine Lib. de cura pro mortuis agenda, cap. 13. saith of his mother Monica, deceased, that she did now no longer yield him comfort, because she knew not what befell him. The greatest Popish clerks themselves confess that the invocation

Isaiah 66:5 — Bashan: where the hedge is lowest, those beasts will leap over; and every crow will be pulling off wool from a sheep’s sides. Your brethren. — By race and place, but not by grace. That hated you. — For like cause as Cain hated Abel, 1 John 3:12 for trembling at God’s judgments while they do yet hang in the threatenings. And cast you out. — Either out of their company, as not fit to be conversed with, Isaiah 65:5 or out of their synagogue by excommunications, as fit to

Daniel 9:26 — [shall be] with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined. And after threescore and two weeks. — See on Daniel 9:25 . Within these threescore and two weeks befell the Jews many memorable things, as may be seen in Daniel 8:1-27 Daniel 11:1-45 . Shall Messiah be cut off. — Excindetur, not abscindetur, cut off - that is, by wicked hands crucified and slain; Acts 2:23 not only cast out of the synagogue, and excommunicated, as that malicious Rabbi read and sensed this

Hosea 10:3 — king, who is over matched; as Asa was by the Ethiopians, when he came forth against them with an army of five hundred thousand, but was encountered by an army of a thousand thousand, the largest, I think, that we read of in the Book of God, 2 Chronicles 14:11 , and was therefore fain to cry, "Help us, O Lord our God, for we rest in thee: and in thy name, not in our own strength, we go against this multitude." Because we feared not the Lord — We trembled not at his word, as Hosea 9:17

Hosea 14:7 — faith’s triumph, and this is the saint’s safety. They shall revive as the corn, and grow as the vine — The Seventy and Latin render it, They shall live with corn; that is, they shall have great plenty of all things necessary, as Psalms 87:1-7 ; Psalms 144:13 . But the other reading is better; They shall revive as the corn, which suffering much from frost, hail, snow, tempest, lieth for dead, as it were, in winter; but at the return of the sun in springtide reviveth, and yieldeth a great

Joel 3:17 — wilderness, "Is God among us?" as if that could not be, and they athirst. Dwelling in Zion — Defending my people and dispensing my best blessings to them. "The Lord that made heaven and earth bless thee out of Zion," Psalms 134:3 . The blessings that come out of Zion are far beyond those that otherwise come out of heaven and earth. Then shall Jerusalem be holy — With a double holiness, imputed and imparted; the profane being purged out here in part, but hereafter in

Amos 6:13 — — In the creature, saith a Lapide, which is a mere nothing: in your wealth and strength (called horns in the next clause), which are an uncertainty, an obscurity ( αδηλοτης ), as the apostle deemed them, 1 Timothy 6:17 , and have no solid subsistence, said Solomon, Proverbs 23:5 , though the foolish world call them substance and goods. Indeed, it is only opinion that sets the price upon them, as when gold is raised from twenty shillings to twenty-two,

Amos 9:11 — menaces: the Sun of righteousness liketh not to set in a cloud. In that day, that happy day, whensoever it shall dawn, that Christ shall come; for the prophets knew not the certain time when, but made diligent inquiry as far as they might with sobriety, 1 Peter 1:11 , and well knew that the law, which they preached and explained, was an introduction to a better hope, Hebrews 7:19 , which they saw afar off and saluted, Hebrews 11:13 . Will I raise up the tabernacle of David — That is, the kingdom

Obadiah 1:15 — reward shall return upon thine own head. For the day of the Lord is near, … — "The wicked plotteth against the just, and gnasheth upon him with his teeth. The Lord shall laugh at him: for he seeth that his day is coming," Psalms 37:12-13 , the particular day of his sore punishment, a type and pledge of the general judgment, that great day of the Lord, as it is called, Revelation 6:17 ; Revelation 16:14 , because the great God will on that day do great works, and determine great

Obadiah 1:20 — carried captive to Babylon, returning at length into their own country, shall possess all the places of the Canaanites, all the maritime cities, all the tract of ground as far as Sarepta, which is between Tyre and Zidon, therefore called Sarepta of Zidon, 1 Kings 17:9 . Here dwelt the Canaanites, whom Asher could not expel, Judges 1:31-32 . See Matthew 15:22 . And the captivity of Jerusalem, which is in Sepharad — That is, either in some city of Assyria or in the utmost bounds of the Babylonish dominion

Habakkuk 3:19 — of inaccessible rocks, so shall I quickly escape out of trouble and walk upon mine high places again in the holy land; yea, as Jacob, after he had conversed with God at Bethel, lifted up his feet and went lustily on his way to Padanaram, Genesis 29:1 , so shall I go lightly on my long journey to heaven; and, having my soul supplied with the oil of spiritual joy, I shall find it made more lithe, nimble, and ready to every good work. To the chief musician on my stringed instruments — This is

Zechariah 10:2 — soothsayers cannot help you to these things. If they promise you (as they will), believe them not; for they lie as fast as once Rabshakeh did for his master, when he promised the people a land of corn and wine, a land of bread and vineyards, Isaiah 36:17 . And they will finally serve you as Absalom’s mule served her master; whom she left at his greatest need, to hang between heaven and earth, as rejected of both. Lo such are all creaturecomforts, golden delusions, lying vanities, apples of Sodom,

Zechariah 11:12 — to say of you, as my servant David of Nabal, that unthankful churl, "Surely in vain have I kept all that this fellow had in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that pertained unto him: and he hath requited me evil for good," 1 Samuel 25:21 . If God will be David’s shepherd, David will dwell in God’s house to all perpetuity, Psalms 23:1 ; Psalms 23:6 . If the Lord deal bountifully with him, he will sit down and bethink himself what to render unto the Lord for all

Zechariah 14:1 — Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee. Behold, the day of the Lord cometh — Jerusalem had her day, and knew it not, Luke 19:42 (Jerusalem was not Jerusalem, the vision of peace saw not the things that belonged to her peace); God therefore will have his day of vengeance, as she had of visitation. He hath his season, his harvest for judgment, Matthew 13:30 ; and when wickedness

Matthew 17:1 — special work to do, went usually up into a mountain; to teach us to soar aloft in great performances especially, and to be heavenly minded, taking a turn or two, ever and anon, with Christ in Mount Tabor, treading upon the moon, with the Church,Revelation 12:1; Revelation 12:1 ; having our feet at least where other men’s heads are, on things on earth (Proverbs 15:24 ; "The way of life is above to the wise"); delighting ourselves in high flying, as eagles; never merry till gotten into the

Matthew 19:21 — divitum accidant. Such as beg from door to door. So shall thou clear thyself from all suspicion of covetousness, which properly consists in pinching and saving; and so is distinguished by the apostle from extortion, which stands in immoderate getting, 1 Corinthians 6:10 ; 1 Timothy 3:3 . And thou shalt have treasure in heaven — Far beyond the treasures of Egypt, which yet is called Rahab,Psalms 89:10; Psalms 89:10 , because of the riches, power, and pride thereof. Oh! get a patriarch’s